For several years, Butlins in Skegness has hosted an annual Great British Rock and Blues Festival - a three night weekend featuring some of my favourite bands and some unfamiliar ones. All enjoyed in the company of some good friends, as the pictures will show.

This link will take you back to the older photo albums of Skeggie, 2002 and 2005, in my older music pages.

On-stage bands include: Stray, Eddie and The Hot Rods, Dr. Feelgood, plus a few pictures off-stage with members of the audience.

This set includes Paul Jones, followed by Masd, Bad, & Dangerous (John Otway & Richard Holgarth, The Wilco Johnson Band, The Hamsters).

Due to an equipment failure, namely my brain (the bit that deals with memory), this set of pictures is not up to the usual standard. In fact, several ‘on-stage’ pictures had to be discarded altogether, as my replacement camera could not cope with the lighting conditions. Apologies. On the other hand, what remains serves as a record of the weekend.

Skeggie seems to have a jinx on my cameras. These are all that survived (and some only just) for 2010. Look out for some friends, not only from last year, but from Otway’s Acrostic Tour and from the 2009 Dunkerque trip.

2012: Day 1, Friday. Of the nine acts performing, I saw at least some of The John Verity Band, the Krissy Matthews Band, Ten Years After, Chantel McGregor, and Virgil and The Accelerators.

Day 2, Saturday. In the afternoon: The Jokers, then Juall. In the evening:Deborah Bonham, Cherry Lee Mewis, Martin Turner’s Wishbone Ash.

Day 3, Sunday. In the afternoon, there was a Jam session. In the evening: Skinny Molly, FM, Crucified Barbara.

I wasn’t able to take many pictures this year, so this single album shows a tiny proportion of what was going on. Featured here are: Eddie & The Hot Rods, Stray, Hawkwind, Curved Air, and The Animals.

2014: Day 1, Friday. Acts I saw were Grainne Duffy, Slack Alice, Blue Swamp Band, Pat McManus Band, The Quireboys. A great start to the weekend.

A break from the bands, as I take to the countryside around Skegness. First up was a visit to the windmill at Alford - a fine example of the many five-bladed windmills peculiar to this area. Then shopping! There’s a place I found a few years ago that sells clothes for big men. A visit to a nature reserve wasn’t that inspiring at this time of year. Neither were the general views along the sea-front North of Skegness.

Later in 2014, I returned to Skeggie for The Great British Alternative Music Festival. On day 1, Friday, I watched in the Reds venue Fukdust 4, UK Subs, and Bad Manners. At the same time, the Centre Stage venue had Anti-Pasti, The Damned, and The Anti-Nowhere League. (14/103, Friday 10th October 2014)

On Day 2, I started the day with an excursion to Cleethorpes, where I had lunch on the seafront. Back at Butlins, in Reds, I Saw The Boomtown Rats and Ed Tudor Pole. In the big tent, I saw Celtic Cross, before going to the Centre Stage for a brief look at The Rezillos. Also appearing that day were Goldblade in Reds, and The Chords UK and Sham 69 were in the Centre Stage. (14/104, Saturday 11th October 2014)

This, by the way, was my final visit to Butlins. Over the years, I’ve made and met loads of good friends there. The music is great, and I’ve relished the opportunity to have a few drinks and not having to drive home after a gig. I’ve had some great times there, as these photo albums will testify.Unfortunately, Butlins itself is a travesty. It is no longer acceptable to provide 1950s standards of accommodation in the 21st century, and, frankly, I’ve had enough, and will not be crossing their threshholds again. This year was particularly awful, starting with not having my booking details at check-in, downgrading my catering arrangements. Here are a few illustrative pictures.